NYRA sets stakes schedules for Belmont at Saratoga, Big A
The New York Racing Association announced the stakes schedule for the 2026 Belmont Stakes racing festival, which will be held at Saratoga from Wednesday, June 3, through Sunday, June 7.
NYRA also announced the stakes schedule for its Belmont at the Big A meet. See below for details.
Highlighted by the 158th edition of $2 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 6, the 2026 Belmont Stakes racing festival will include 10 Grade 1 races among 18 graded stakes across five days.
With a new Belmont Park to open for live racing on Sept. 18, the Belmont Stakes will return to its Long Island home beginning in 2027.
Tickets and hospitality offerings for the final edition of the Belmont Stakes racing festival at Saratoga will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 12, at BelmontStakes.com.
Belmont Stakes day at Saratoga features a program with six Grade 1 events among seven graded stakes, headlined by the Belmont Stakes. The undercard includes the Metropolitan Handicap, Manhattan, Jaipurm Woody Stephens and Just a Game, all Grade 1, and the True North (G3).
As in 2025, NYRA will raise the curtain on the Belmont Stakes racing festival with an opening0day dedicated to New York-breds on Wednesday, June 3. The New York showcase day program will offer six $200,000 events exclusively for horses foaled in the Empire State, the Mike Lee, the Bouwerie, the Commentator, the Critical Eye, the Kingston and the Mount Vernon.
In total, the Belmont Stakes racing festival will offer 25 stakes races worth $11,075,000 million in purses.
Belmont at the Big A
The 2026 Belmont at the Big A spring-summer meet will open Thursday, April 30, and continue through Sunday, June 28.
The ongoing construction of a new Belmont Park, which will re-open for live racing on Sept. 18, again will require adjustments to the customary NYRA schedule. The spring-summer meet traditionally held at Belmont Park will take place at Aqueduct again, and the 2026 Belmont Stakes racing festival will be held at Saratoga for the third and final time.
To allow for the NYRA circuit to shift upstate in advance of the Belmont Stakes racing festival, the spring-summer meet will pause from May 26-June 2. After the Belmont Stakes racing festival, live racing at Aqueduct will resume on Thursday, June 11.
Headlined by the Peter Pan (G3), the traditional New York prep for the Belmont Stakes, the spring-summer meet will include 16 stakes races at Aqueduct worth $2,475,000 in total purses.
NYRA will waive entry and starting fees to the Belmont Stakes for the first three finishers of the Peter Pan. The Man o’ War (G2), which previously was held on the weekend of the Peter Pan, will be held during the fall meet at Belmont Park in 2026.
The upcoming completion of the new Belmont Park requires the consolidation of all downstate racing operations at Belmont. As such, the final race day at Aqueduct will be Sunday, June 28. NYRA will pay tribute to Aqueduct with a special closing weekend to honor the legacy of the South Ozone Park oval.